Four Days down, one to go! The day went flawlessly, they turned in the bugs they had found to the original programmers and even got a small bonus for all their hard work! Tomorrow wasn't even going to be a work day, the business was going to throw a small party in the latter half of the day. Much as he wanted to skip it to keep playing, it was paid and more money was always a good thing… though one ‘sick day’ on a day where he wasn’t going to do anything at work wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’d have to see where this night led him.

Putting on his helmet Dan was shaking with excitement. He couldn’t wait to get back into it and find more quests to do, he needed to level up more and earn himself a few new skills to complement his current ones! Relaxing into his chair Dan pulled his helmet back on and booted up Eternium, the possibilities of the world seemingly endless.

As he arrived into the game he was in the spawn room, awaiting respawn. He took a moment to read over his notifications before getting into it.

Decomposing Mist increased to Novice III

Shield Mastery increased to Novice III

Necromantic Resurrection increased to Novice III

Wow, three skills to level three at the same time? Isn’t that lucky! Take a point of luck.

Solid gains overall, not groundbreaking, but he was only just getting into it. Now he just needed to get back out there and find some more quests to do for himself, surely there was more for people like him. He knew his god also needed more scans of animals, and there were always skills to be gained through that.

Stepping through the portal into town square he felt something cover his mouth, causing to cough and nearly fall as his breath came in gasps. Looking around Dan did his best to run from whatever was attacking him but he failed as an icicle impaled his foot, rooting him in place. As he reached down to try to remove the icicle a pillar of rock rose around him, wrapping around him from ankle to neck. Trying to yell, Dan could do nothing more than gasp through whatever was blocking his mouth.

Walking up around him was a large group of robed figures flanked by the town guards, who were looking at him as if he were carrying explosives. He had no idea what he had done to spark this reaction, surely the incident yesterday was forgotten about after he died, right? That’s how any crime system works in games.This group was telling him the exact opposite of that though. Surely a level one mage didn’t warrant this kind of group though, right?

One mage stood in front of the others, his hand glowing the same deep purple as his robe. Dan caught his reflection from the icicle impaling his foot and saw a purple film of magic encasing his mouth. Obviously this was what was preventing him from speaking and restricting his breathing. Closing his eyes, Dan struggled against the stone holding him in place, but even though he was stronger than a mage, he couldn’t break through this, he could barely even move with how tightly he wrapped in the rock.

The purple robed mage finally spoke up, “It has been many years since my eyes were sullied by a Necromancer, even one who has yet to pass the initiate stages. It is lucky that we managed to track down scum like yourself before you became too powerful, though as you can see I am taking no risks with your capture.”

Dan stopped trying to struggle and instead began straining against the gag, trying to ask why Necromancers deserved this treatment.

“Now you must be wondering why you have quite the party, aren’t you? I know you travelers are almost wholly ignorant to the laws and history of our land and have no idea what a blight Necromancers used to be on our poor land. The last Necromancer I saw was well over thirty years ago and it took the life of well over two hundred mages to subdue and kill him. While I would love to kill you, Travelers have that pesky quirk of coming back to life, don’t worry, our Archmage has plans for you even if you do not sign the accords. However I’m sure we could be more… lenient if you were to pay the small fee of 100 gold to sign the accords when we arrive. Just nod if you agree and the funds shall be removed from your bank.”

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Dan didn’t have that much in the game, that was a thousand dollars in the real world, nowhere near what he had put into the game when he first entered. Even if he did have that he wouldn’t give it up for… well whatever these accords were. Making eye contact with the mage, Dan shook his head firmly.

“More’s the pity then, I suppose. The Archmage is waiting though, it’s time we make our way to the college, I’m sure you’ll enjoy your stay, or will eventually learn to enjoy it.” The mage flashed a sinister smile before removing the icicle from his foot and tossing it behind him. Dan could see a total of five more mages behind him, including the mage that had originally denied him access to the college as well as one who looked as though he was struggling against some invisible force. As the purple robed mage strode away from Dan he noticed a small band of rocks tethering him to the struggling mage as he began to make pulling motions. Suddenly the rock Dan was encased in was pulled forward along with the group of mages and a small escort of city guards.

“Very good, Octavian. You’ve trussed the Necromancer quite nicely, I’ll be sure to mention this to the headmaster.” The rock mage inclined his head to the purple robed one in deference. While Dan wasn’t generally a violent person, he did feel the need to smack both these two upside their heads, preferably with his shield.

The procession moved fairly quickly through the city, shoving aside curious citizens with threats of jail time and violence in equal amounts. Dan tried calling out to the citizens he passed but not one would meet his eyes as he was hauled passed in his rocky cocoon. If he could just get free maybe he could summon his thrall and get away from these people.

Sooner than he would have liked, the gates to the college loomed before him once again and he was freely admitted as the guards peeled off from the retinue.Strangely there were no students to be seen as he was forced up the steps, his feet slammed painfully into each one as the cocoon pulled him up, and the yard as well as hallways were dead silent as if the massive school were holding its breath.

Finally he was led before a pair of doors, the ice mage went through and Dan could see a massive crowd waiting in complete silence before the door was closed in front of his group. Less than a minute later the group was led inside the room as the ice mage led them inside. The room was far larger than he would have thought from seeing it from the outside. It was circular in nature with many chairs around a large podium, atop that podium was a massive device holding a book.

The device was swirling with white strands of mana, forcing itself inside the blue glowing book, as if being forcefully sucked into the book. The entire thing was something straight out of a high fantasy story of some legendary book, staring at it, Dan realized that this must be the most rare item he has seen so far. He could only imagine how rich the thief to steal it would be. Though right now he had no time to even plan it as the purple robed mage swept forward to address a corpulent man who was so rotund Dan would be surprised if he wasn’t stuck in his throne. With every word his jaw flapped and rolls of fat rolled along his neck.

Finally the purple mage nodded and stepped away from the rotund man, going to stand by his right side as the corpulent man prepared to speak. “We stand here with the rogue mage Dan_The_Miller, for the crime of not only refusing to sign the accords but also of being a vile Necromancer. True he has not specialized yet and was still but a necromage, he did already have a thrall and was well on his way to becoming a full fledged Necromancer.”

Silence followed this proclamation before a flurry of whispers and muttering burst from the students around the room. Not only muttering though, there were quite a few shouts for his death and not one of the students looked at him as anything other than a repugnant monster.

“For those that do not know of the acts of Necromancy that have plagued this world, the last time we dealt with a Necromancer he threatened to destroy the college on his own. Their strength is nearly unmatched but those that walk the path of a Necromancer crave nothing more than total domination of all others. It is a total consuming power for those who have no morals or compunctions. Unfortunately we cannot just kill him as he is a traveler and will always come back but we do have options.

Dan tried to speak and explain that he was just using his class how it was meant to be, or maybe that this whole college was ridiculous and they had rejected him the first time he joined and he couldn’t even pay to join, or maybe he was going to try to tell the mages just what he thought of this judgement, but the purple silence mage still held his spell so he could do nothing but gaze silently about the room. What did catch his eye was that several of the teachers looked at him with pity and even shame in their eyes but they were just as silent as him.

After his speech, the dictator of the school rose to his feet, wobbling precariously as his fat rolls weighed him down and caused him to shift with each movement. As he stood the room instantly quieted. “I think there is only one fitting punishment for a heretic such as this and I have a feeling you will all agree. We will start by having him use his mana to power the accords for a period of twelve hours every three days, followed by banishment to the dungeon and forcing him to work the dungeon down there.” Several gasps sounded around the room and Dan could see the mage that silenced him grinning in delight.

“I would love to strip him of his mana and the right to cast spells but this has had… let’s say complicated effects on necromancers of the past and led to even more trouble from the undead. However this way we can not only contain him by doing this but he will work to repay the past crimes of Necromancers. While I could be far more harsh I will give this runt of a Necromancer a chance to prove himself. Perhaps one day he will even have the privilege of signing the accords, though be comforted that we will never welcome him as an equal even if he does do so.”

Finally the Archmage sat back down, panting from his short speech. He waved over at the purple robed mage who had Octavian dismiss his spell, dropping Dan to the ground, though before he could even conjure thoughts of escape he was forced to the podium near the book and his mind was taken over by all consuming pain as his hands were forced against it.